Dawg Days kick off

August 23, 2007

By Mickey Winfield: PNT staff writer

If you set foot on the Eastern New Mexico University campus this weekend, you’ll probably be asking yourself, “Who let the dawgs out”, as ENMU’s freshman orientation program, Dawg Days, sends the green newcomers to various get acquainted events.

“It gets them involved in the campus,” Rebecca Valdez, co-director of Dawg Days, said. “It gets them to know what’s here in the town of Portales.”

The festivities unofficially kicked off Thursday afternoon with the Dawg Days barbecue outside of the Campus Union Building.

“There’s just a lot of fun things going on throughout the whole of Dawg Days so it’s just going to be great, great fun the whole time,” Valdez said.

Hobie Kelting is an incoming freshman from Portales High School participating in Dawg Days.

“It’s nice to meet other freshmen and it’s also kind of neat to get to know some of the older people here,” Kelting said. “They have all the activities, you can see if you’re interested.”

Kelting said he’s most interested in attending the various concerts this weekend.

“Involvement as far as freshman go is wonderful,” Valdez said. “They are really involved, we’re expecting between 400 and 500 freshman this year and we’re hoping to get a lot of them involved in Dawg Days.”

Friday’s events include a new event called The Great Race that helps students get to know their surroundings.

Hypnotist Chuck Milligan will perform Friday night, followed by a game show in the Campus Union Ballroom.

Saturday brings a pep rally, followed by skits and giggles and an awards presentation. There will also be a hip hop disc jockey at Ground Zero.

Having gone through Dawg Days herself as a freshman gives Valdez a unique perspective on the needs of incoming newbies.

“When I came in as a freshman, I was really scared and kind of lonely,” Valdez said. “But getting involved in Dawg Days really made me see what Eastern had to offer. It was a lot of fun, got to mingle with a lot of freshman, I met one of my really good friends at Dawg Days so it was a really good experience for me.”